The Constitution In Jeopardy

A former U.S. senator joins a legal scholar to examine a hushed effort to radically change our Constitution, offering a warning and a way forward. Over the last two decades, a fringe plan to call a convention under the Constitution's amendment mechanism—the nation's first ever—has inched through statehouses. Delegates, like those in Philadelphia two centuries ago, would exercise nearly unlimited authority to draft changes to our fundamental law, potentially altering anything from voting and free speech rights to regulatory and foreign policy powers. Such a watershed moment would present great danger, and for some, great power. In this important book, Feingold and Prindiville distill extensive legal and historical research and examine the grave risks inherent in this effort. But they also consider the role of constitutional amendment in modern life. Though many focus solely on judicial and electoral avenues for change, such an approach is at odds with a cornerstone ideal of the Founding: that the People make constitutional law, directly. In an era defined by faction and rejection of long-held norms, The Constitution in Jeopardy examines the nature of constitutional change and asks urgent questions about what American democracy is, and should be.

This volume traces the history of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. It shows that the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy has its roots in ancient Jewish and early Greek and Roman law. After recapping the history of the clause the Supreme Court's current interpretation of the clause is explained. This book describes the circumstances in which the premature termination of an individual's trial bars a subsequent trail for the same offense. It also examines when the Clause prohibits the government from imposing multiple punishments for the same offense. The final chapter includes a discussion of bibliographical sources.

Learn the US Constitution while playing Jeopardy! Patterned after the popular TV game show, this game includes six categories on the Constitution to help players bolster their knowledge on the seven articles, the Bill of Rights, the rest of the amendments, plus history and trivia. The game includes answers and questions for Jeopardy Round, Double Jeopardy Round, Final Jeopardy Round, plus extra answers and questions in case you ever learn them too well, also, instructions on how to play, all the tile sheets for the six categories and dollar values to form the game board on a wall. References to the article and section of the Constitution follow each question.Celebrate every Constitution Day by playing this game with friends or family, or play it anytime throughout the year!

The Fifth Amendment is one of the more complex and far-reaching amendments to the US Constitution, so this book begins by breaking down each clause one by one, explaining the legalese in uncomplicated language, thus allowing the reader to reach a full understanding of due process. It then systemically describes the impact of the Fifth Amendment clause by clause, using Supreme Court cases as real-world examples. Sidebars highlight the amendment in action and delve into some of the finer points. This book includes rich resource sections that allow for further exploration.

This is the fifth volume in the 'Final Jeopardy' series of books. The first four volumes explored issues involving: Science, evolution, medicine, neurobiology, quantum physics, cosmology, and religion. The present volume critically examines the notion of sovereignty against a backdrop of various events drawn primarily from American history. Among the topics discussed are: Republicanism, sovereignty, democracy, the rule of law, the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, the process of ratification, the Supreme Court, corporations, the Federal Reserve, the military-industrial complex, the CIA, some of the decisions of modern American presidents ranging from: Eisenhower to Obama. A central theme of the foregoing book concerns the manner in which all three branches of government have consistently failed to comply with the guarantee promised in Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution involving a republican form of government in the service of the purposes contained in the Preamble. By failing to operate in accordance with the requirements of Article IV, Section 4, America has had a very different history than might have occurred if the central promise of the Constitution had been honored.

“Narrative, celebratory history at its purest” (Publishers Weekly)—the real story of how the Bill of Rights came to be: a vivid account of political strategy, big egos, and the partisan interests that set the terms of the ongoing contest between the federal government and the states. Those who argue that the Bill of Rights reflects the founding fathers’ “original intent” are wrong. The Bill of Rights was actually a brilliant political act executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the federal government, and the latter’s authority over the states. In the skilled hands of award-winning historian Carol Berkin, the story of the founders’ fight over the Bill of Rights comes alive in a drama full of partisanship, clashing egos, and cunning manipulation. In 1789, the nation faced a great divide around a question still unanswered today: should broad power and authority reside in the federal government or should it reside in state governments? The Bill of Rights, from protecting religious freedom to the people’s right to bear arms, was a political ploy first and a matter of principle second. The truth of how and why Madison came to devise this plan, the debates it caused in the Congress, and its ultimate success is more engrossing than any of the myths that shroud our national beginnings. The debate over the Bill of Rights still continues through many Supreme Court decisions. By pulling back the curtain on the short-sighted and self-interested intentions of the founding fathers, Berkin reveals the anxiety many felt that the new federal government might not survive—and shows that the true “original intent” of the Bill of Rights was simply to oppose the Antifederalists who hoped to diminish the government’s powers. This book is “a highly readable American history lesson that provides a deeper understanding of the Bill of Rights, the fears that generated it, and the miracle of the amendments” (Kirkus Reviews).

In May 1787, in an atmosphere of crisis, delegates met in Philadelphia to design a radically new form of government. Distinguished historian Richard Beeman captures as never before the dynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who labored that historic summer. Virtually all of the issues in dispute—the extent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, most explosive of all, the role of slavery—have continued to provoke conflict throughout our nation's history. This unprecedented book takes readers behind the scenes to show how the world's most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and fragile consensus. As Gouverneur Morris, delegate of Pennsylvania, noted: "While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, others have given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons to believe that it is the work of plain, honest men."